Heimiswil

Heimiswil
State :	Switzerland
Canton :	Bern (BE)
Administrative district :	Emmental
BFS no. :	0407
Postal code :	3412
Coordinates :	616 795  /  212 657 coordinates: 47 ° 3 '53 "  N , 7 ° 39' 35"  O ; CH1903:  616,795  /  two hundred and twelve thousand six hundred and fifty-seven
Height :	615  m above sea level M.
Height range :	541–870 m above sea level M.
Area :	23.36  km²
Residents:	1621 (December 31, 2018)
Population density :	69 inhabitants per km²
Mayor :	Jürg Burkhalter ( SVP )
Website:	www.heimiswil.ch
Reformed Church Heimiswil
Location of the municipality

Heimiswil is a municipality in the Emmental administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland .

geography

Heimiswil is 615  m above sea level. M. , 3 km east of the city of Burgdorf (linear distance). The farming village extends Heimiswilgraben, an eastern tributary of the Emmental , in Molassehügelland the higher Swiss Central Plateau .

The area of ​​the 23.4 km² municipal area includes a section of hilly landscape east of the Emmental. The central part of the municipality is the Heimiswilgraben , drained by the Fischbach , a characteristic valley in the Molasse hill country east of the Emmental. The main valley is around 6 km long and flows into the Emmental above Burgdorf. It has numerous short side valleys and ditches, which are separated from each other by narrow ridges (so-called harrows). The landscape often shows very steep slopes, which makes agricultural work in this area more difficult. For this reason, forests and pastureland predominate in the higher elevations. The harrows on the north-western and northern sides of the valley are on average 700 to 800 m high, those on the south-eastern side 800 to 850 m (the Rachisberg reaches a height of 852  m above sea level ). In the extreme south, the municipal ban extends in a narrow strip down to the Emme .

To the northwest, the municipality extends over the ridge of the Egg and the headwaters of the Ösch into the Wynigental , while the northern border runs along the Chänerechbach . In the east, too, the municipal area extends over the watershed of the Heimiswilgraben in places down to the Rüegsbach . In the core of the hilly area, the forest height of the Lueg is just outside the Heimiswil area. An exclave of around 1.2 km² with the Hirsegg and Eich farms comprises the area northeast of the Lueg. On the northeast slope is 865  m above sea level. M. the highest point of Heimiswil reached. In 1997, 4% of the municipal area was accounted for by settlements, 34% by forests and woodlands and 62% by agriculture.

Community structure

Heimiswil is divided into four parts of the municipality, so-called quarters and school districts:

• Village in Heimiswilgraben, consisting of Niederdorf ( 589  m above sea level ) and Oberdorf ( 614  m above sea level ) of Heimiswil as well as Hoferen ( 600  m above sea level ) and Rumistal ( 653  m above sea level ).
• Busswil ( 643  m above sea level ) in the Lochbachtal between the Riedegg and the Höchi.
• Berg with the hamlets of Hueb ( 675  m above sea level ), Wil ( 669  m above sea level ), Guetisberg ( 697  m above sea level ), all on the relatively gently sloping northwest slope of the Egg in the headwaters of the Ösch, Kaltacker ( 706  m above sea level ) and Färberg ( 711  m above sea level ).
• Rotenbaum ( 790  m above sea level ) in the catchment area of ​​the Rüegbach with the Vorder Rinderbach ( 656  m above sea level ), Lueg ( 838  m above sea level ) and the Hirsegg exclave ( 777  m above sea level ).

In addition, numerous farm groups and individual farms, which are widely scattered in the valleys and on the hills, belong to the community. Neighboring communities of Heimiswil are Wynigen , Affoltern im Emmental , Rüegsau , Hasle bei Burgdorf and Burgdorf .

population

With 1621 inhabitants (as of December 31, 2018) Heimiswil is one of the medium-sized communities in the canton of Bern. 98.8% of the residents are German-speaking, 0.3% French-speaking and 0.2% speak Dutch (as of 2000). In the course of the 20th century, the number of inhabitants fell by almost 35% to 1,543 people (2000) due to strong emigration, especially since 1950. Since then a slight population growth has been recorded again.

Population development
year	1764	1850	1880	1900	1930	1950	1980	1990	2000
Residents	1187	2357	2340	2094	2212	1670	1660	1543	1618

politics

The voting shares of the parties in the 2019 National Council election were: SVP 47.7%, BDP 10.6%, SP 7.7%, EDU 6.5%, GPS 7.7%, glp 5.0%, EVP 4.9 %, FDP 2.4%, CVP 0.7%.

economy

Until the second half of the 20th century, Heimiswil was a village dominated by agriculture . Even today, dairy farming and animal husbandry, as well as arable farming , fruit growing and forestry, have an important place in the income structure of the population. Further jobs are available in local small businesses and in the service sector. Wood processing, mechanical engineering (agricultural equipment), construction, mechanical workshops and a brewery are all represented in Heimiswil. Many workers are also commuters who mainly work in the Burgdorf region.

traffic

The community is located off the major thoroughfare on a connecting road from Burgdorf to Affoltern in the Emmental . Heimiswil is connected to the public transport network through a post bus course , which serves the route from Burgdorf to the Lueg.

history

Aerial photograph by Walter Mittelholzer (1923)

The first written mention of the place took place in 1250 under the name Heimoltswiler . The names Heimolswile (1276), Heymolzwile (1327), Hemisswill (1368) and Heimiswil (1456) appeared later . The place name goes back to the Old High German personal name Heimolt and thus means Heimolt's homestead .

Heimiswil has belonged to the actual domain of the Counts of Kyburg since the 13th century . The village was bought in 1402 by the town of Burgdorf and later by their bailiwick of Grasswil. The high level of jurisdiction passed from the Kyburgers to the Bernese district court Ranflüh, before Bern assigned the village to the Burgdorf mayor's office in the early 16th century. Heimiswil has been cared for from Oberburg since the Reformation . Because the Anabaptist movement in Heimiswil had expanded considerably in the 18th century , the Bernese lords decided to separate the parish from Oberburg and to form an independent parish, which was decided on by the Grand Council of Bern on February 12, 1703.

After the collapse of the Ancien Régime (1798), Heimiswil belonged to the Burgdorf district during the Helvetic Republic and from 1803 to the Burgdorf Oberamt, which received the status of an official district with the new cantonal constitution of 1831.

In the 20th century, the federal government set up the central Heimiswil microfilm archive .

Attractions

See also : List of cultural assets in Heimiswil

The Reformed Church of St. Margaretha was built in 1703-04 as a baroque hall church on a ledge near the upper village. The roof turret built at that time was replaced in 1813 by a mighty 48 m high front tower. In the lower part of the village is the Löwen inn, a post construction from the early 19th century. In the two town centers and the numerous hamlets, many characteristic farmhouses (Emmental architectural style) from the 18th and 19th centuries have been preserved. On the Kaltacker there is an allegedly 1000 year old yew tree , which also adorns the municipality's coat of arms. It is called Gärstler Eibe after the homonymous homestead.

Web links

Commons : Heimiswil  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Official website of the community of Heimiswil
• Anne-Marie Dubler : Heimiswil. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Permanent resident population from STAT-TAB of the BfS , municipalities see also regional portraits 2020 on bfs.admin.ch, accessed on May 29, 2020
2. ^ Results of the Heimiswil community. State Chancellery of the Canton of Bern, October 20, 2019, accessed on July 30, 2020 . 
3. ↑ Tree walks: Six trees with trees. Accessed July 30, 2020 .